A medium-sized 12-piece band from Sweden, Kustbandet has since the mid-1960's been performing fresh renditions of 1920's era selections, without resorting to mere recreations of earlier recordings. The band's original name was the Southside Kneewarmers but they changed their name to Kustbandet (which means the line of land that can be seen from the sea) when they had a job on a boat; the newer title stuck. The earlier group had multireedist Kenneth Arnstrom as its main soloist and was filled with musicians who did not read music despite the complexity of the frameworks. In 1974 when Bent Persson (a brilliant cornetist who has the ability to sound remarkably close to 1926 Louis Armstrong) joined up, the band started to use scores more, especially after Arnstrom left the group in 1978. However the group's looseness remained and through the decades it has been one of Sweden's finest (and most consistently creative) trad jazz bands, performing music in the style of the late 1920's big bands such as Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Luis Russell and McKinney's Cotton Pickers. Kustbandet has thus far recorded for Kenneth (quite extensively since 1966 including a date with altoist Charlie Holmes) and Stomp Off (including a set featuring singer Carol Leigh). ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi